Teacher Ratings Face New Union Obstructions

By

Lisa Fleisher

March 18, 2012 9:34 p.m. ET

School districts around New York state are discovering new challenges in creating teacher-evaluation systems, clashing with unions over details after a broad statewide deal announced to great fanfare last month by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In Buffalo and Rochester, teachers are insisting they shouldn't be held responsible for test scores of chronically absent students. The Rochester teachers union is also at odds with its district over how much power to give principals in judging teachers. And some school officials said wealthier districts could determine the whole endeavor isn't worth the trouble or the cost.

The disagreements illustrate the difficulties many of the state's 700 school districts could face as they try to launch a complex new system.

Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, said the disagreements are likely to spread. "I am sure over the next six months we are going to hear of other issues," Ms. Tisch said. "I just believe that in my gut."

The deal announced by Mr. Cuomo resolved a state teachers union lawsuit and finalized a framework that gave broad outlines for a new system: Up to 40% of a teacher's rating would be based on student test scores and 60% on subjective measures, such as principal observations.

Teachers who once were rated only satisfactory or unsatisfactory would, under the new system, get graded as highly effective, effective, developing or ineffective. Teachers rated ineffective for two straight years could be fired.

Advocates of the new system said it is essential to improving children's education. Studies, such as a paper released in January funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have shown that combining test-score analysis, observations and student feedback will better predict student test scores than the number of master's degrees a teacher has earned or experience level. Mr. Cuomo made millions of dollars in state school aid contingent on districts implementing such a system. "It's dramatically better than what we have now," said state Education Commissioner John King.

Critics say the emphasis on standardized testing would make teachers spend more time on test-taking strategies than on the actual material. "We'll be just teaching to the test; teachers won't be able to foster creativity," said Eric Przykuta, president of the Lancaster Central Teachers Association outside Buffalo.

Now, districts have to work out the fine print of evaluations with one of the system's biggest critics: unions.

There are large decisions, such as whether to buy new tests from state-selected companies or develop them in-house. There are philosophical ones, such as how to credit one teacher for another aide's work, and whether students' and parents' opinions should count. Then, there are the nuts and bolts: What benchmarks will be used to gauge students' success?

In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers and the city are still far from an agreement, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg threatened to close more schools as a mechanism of displacing bad teachers if a deal couldn't be made soon.

In Rochester, the union president said he would draw a line in the sand on the issue of chronically absent students.

The state has said such students' scores can't be excluded from evaluations, but Adam Urbanski, the Rochester Teachers Association president, said the disagreement could hold up talks. "I say, 'Keep your money,'" he said.

Mr. Cuomo has said he wasn't surprised districts would run into problems, which, he said, was why he was threatening to yank funding from those who don't make an agreement. "It's going to be difficult," he said.

Officials still expect agreements to be in place by state-imposed deadlines. Districts could millions in state funding if they fail to agree by Jan. 17, 2013, and they'll be cut out of competitive state grants if they don't reach agreements by September.

School board officials worry the deadlines will force superintendents to cave to union demands.

"Every detail has to be bargained, essentially," said David Albert, a New York State School Boards Association spokesman.

Wealthier districts that aren't as reliant on state aid could question whether to give up on an agreement, said Jay Breakstone, the past president of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

"You'd have to seriously question whether or not it's even worth the effort," he said.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.